It’s difficult enough to pursue a career in acting. An actor’s career involves volunteering oneself up for constant judgement, pigeonholing, and rejection. However, the Asian actor constantly encounters an additional, one could even say greater, burden.
If you flipped through your television channels one night for a half hour, hour, or maybe even several hours, it’s very likely you won’t spot a single Asian actor on-screen, or at least not one who is on-screen performing a leading role, and rarely as a leading potential love interest. In fact, only 1% of lead roles in films go to Asian actors.
If you do happen to see an Asian actor onscreen, he or she will more often than not be a walking manifestation of one, or even many, common Asian stereotypes. In dramas, Asian actors will typically portray roles like the “science nerd who’s good with computers,” or the “crazy Asian villain who can’t speak English.” In comedies, Asians are a more comical and exaggerated version of this, and often become the butt of many jokes, with crazy over-the-top accents and comically strict expectations for their children’s education. Asians are rarely seen as “funny,” beyond the fact that we laugh at them, not with them.
Will Cheng is a Chinese-American actor/comedian from Yonkers, NY. I have worked with Will on multiple occasions on some of my own film shoots, and had the opportunity to discuss the obstacles he has encountered an Asian-American actor, as well as his fair share of experiences regarding Asian-pigeonholing and type-casting.
HC NYU: So, tell me about yourself, Will.
WC: I actually never meant to become an actor. That really wasn’t part of the plan, at least at the beginning. I actually studied Computer Engineering in college. I graduated, got a corporate job, and I didn’t like it, so I quit after a year and a half, worked with my family for about five years, and decided to become a personal trainer. That was probably for like, a year, and then I started competing in fitness competitions. I just wasn’t very comfortable onstage, and a lot of my friends were doing improv, so I decided to get into it too, mainly just to get over my fear and get more comfortable onstage. So I took some improv classes, studied at a lot of different theaters, and then I started doing stand-up and acting.
HC NYU: That’s a really great story! So ultimately, what made you decide to stick with acting and stand-up as opposed to pursuing a different career path?
WC: I mainly wanted to do acting just to get more comfortable, practically in every way: in front of people onstage, socially, etc. so I just decided to put myself in every position possible to get rid of that fear, and that meant improv, stand-up, storytelling, acting. It was really just anything that had to do with performing so that I would get over that fear.
HC NYU: Do you find there to be any challenges you frequently face as an Asian-American actor?
WC: I guess it’s mainly those roles where they still want me to use an Asian accent. Yeah, it’s not really fun to do that. I remember even on set with an Indian director, I got booked for this one job and I was like, “You know, I’m American. I can just talk how I normally talk,” and they were like “No, no, just try it with an accent!” and then they ended up wanting me to do an even more exaggerated accent, so I guess that’s the main part of the struggle. You don’t want to do roles like these, but you do it anyway just to get by because as an actor, you really just try to do whatever you can to stay working.
And I guess in terms of leading roles, there’s still not enough Asian male actors out there that are being put into leading positions, but I think that’s the cool part about all of the NYU student films I’ve been in: you guys will cast whoever you want to cast. I just think that the older generation is still sticking to the stereotypes of Asian men, which I don’t think are necessarily true. Like, maybe there are some [who fit these stereotypes], but that’s the biggest thing for me when people are holding onto a stereotype from the past. All the new performers and all the new directors; they are going to be the ones to start changing things for the future generations.
HC NYU: We’ll try! [laughs] That was all very interesting, though. I can’t help but notice, but you kept referring to Asian-American “men” specifically, so, just out of curiousity, do you believe life as an Asian-American male actor differs in any significant way from the life of an Asian-American female actress?
WC: Well, in general, I know Asians aren’t in tons of films. But I guess Asian-American women might have it a bit differently. You know, they get fetishized more often, so this might get them slightly more roles. Still, I can probably only name a handful. Right now, for Asian men at least, there’s Randall Park, Daniel Dae Kim, John Cho, so I guess that’s a start, but you never see these male or female Asian actors in big blockbuster movies or anything as the lead.
HC NYU: Have you ever been type-cast? If so, for what types of roles?
WC: Well, it seems like the easiest roles for me to get have usually been as some sort of office professional, any roles that involve jobs in technology, and even as a Japanese soldier. I usually know when I see those roles that I’ll probably get an audition if I submit for it. [laughs] Mainly, any type of Asian or technology role is what I’m most commonly cast as. Recently, I’ve actually been cast more often as a young dad [laughs], so that’s a start.
HC NYU: What do you think about shows like the ABC sitcom Fresh Off The Boat that feature a predominantly Asian-American cast, or The CW’s Crazy Ex-Girlfriend that features a lead Asian love interest?
WC: Fresh Off the Boat…I actually saw one episode of it and immediately I was like, “I can’t watch this.” I think if they made it more real, and not just an Asian woman hanging out with three upscale white ladies, then I feel like it would have been more authentic, but they made it so “ABC.” I feel like there actually was a real, authentic story there, but they kind of white-washed it by adding all the upper-class white women in it. That’s just not believable to me. I’m pretty sure tons of Asian-Americans whose families were “fresh off the boat” would agree that their moms didn’t hang out with those types of people, at least initially. And I haven’t actually seen Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, but I had no idea it had an Asian love-interest. I’ll have to check that out.
HC NYU: Are there any specific Asian actors you admire or look up to?
WC: I think John Cho is cool. I loved him in Harold and Kumar. I think the first thing I saw him in was actually American Pie. I was happy to see him in these films because I was like, “Alright, it’s just a normal-looking Asian guy, not some goofy stereotype.”
One Asian man I look up to most is actually Jeremy Lin. He’s not an actor, but his fame had the biggest impact on me as an Asian-American because I actually wanted to be a basketball player when I was a kid, so when he made it big, I thought that was really exciting.
HC NYU: Do you believe the obstacles Asian-American actors face can ever truly be overcome? If yes, how so?
WC: I think it’s just about creating your own content and writing for yourself or for other Asian actors. I think we need more writers and directors that will cast more Asian actors as leading roles. People like Aziz Ansari, who come from a minority, actually created their own show. Mindy Kaling too. I think people like that, they’re setting a good example. But yeah, I think more Asians in general just need to start creating their own stuff, and I think that’s the only way. Something I always hear is that it’s just part of the business. Most of the producers are usually rich white people, so why would they cast someone who is Asian or a person of color? Again, I think we just need to create our own stuff, and eventually everyone else will start picking it up because they don’t know our life experiences, so we have a responsibility to show them what our stories really are, and when they finally accept them for what they are, I think Asian actors and stories will slowly become more accepted into the mainstream. But I think we need to pave our own way and get ourselves into the door because if you wait around for someone to let you in, you’ll be waiting forever.
All in all, there aren’t only a few ways to be “Asian,” and as directors, writers, actors, performers, and even viewers, we need to accept and allow Asian actors to portray roles with more versatility. As much as we choose to deny it, we are all heavily influenced by the fictional narratives we view on television, and these observations and perceptions often sneak their way into our reality. Film and television allows us to both share and witness MANY diverse stories, and allows us to enter a world, a culture, or even meet a person, we’ve never been exposed to before. There’s so many different stories worth telling and so many different people out there, so why only tell one.
To learn more about Will and to check out some of his work, visit his website at www.Will-Cheng.com. Cast him in your films! Cast him as the lead! But no accents, please! :)
Also, check out this film “Close Encounters” I directed starring Will!